At former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s sentencing hearing on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan asked federal prosecutors if they had considered charging Flynn with treason for advocating sanctions relief for Russia after failing to disclose his meetings with the Kremlin’s ambassador. Sullivan walking back his remarks makes sense, since there isn’t really any legal grounds to charge Flynn with treason. Flynn’s connections with Russia wouldn’t fall under treason law simply because Russia is not technically an enemy of the United States, which the law narrowly defines as anyone that the U.S. is openly or declaratively at war with.

Republican lawmakers, eager to escape a politically uncertain Washington and head home for the holidays, are not even trying to offer an argument that an increasingly likely government shutdown is anyone’s fault but President Donald Trump’s, even as they floated an alternative that Democrats immediately rejected. After pushing the deadline back for funding portions of the government by two weeks – the original deadline was Dec. 7 – Congress and the White House have fewer than 96 hours to reach an agreement before the clock struck midnight on Friday and vast sections of the government run out of funding. The government needs to fund seven remaining appropriations bills, and six are close to completion, officials in both parties said.

The bodies of two slain Honduran migrant youths were found in the Mexican border city of Tijuana at the weekend, officials said on Tuesday, in a sign of the dangers facing Central Americans in Mexico as they seek to enter the United States. The prosecutors' office in Tijuana said in a statement it was investigating the deaths of the two youths, who showed signs of having been stabbed and strangled. The victims were believed to be about 16 or 17 years old, the office said.

Shortly before a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl died in U.S. custody, her father signed a form stating that his daughter was in good health. But it's unclear how much the man understood on the form, which was written in English and read to him in Spanish by Border Patrol agents. The death of Jakelin Caal highlights the communication challenges along the U.S.-Mexico border as agents come in contact with an increasing number of migrants who speak neither English nor Spanish.

Facebook and Google have one less user to worry about. Cher, 72, vowed to boycott the two tech giants Tuesday, saying Facebook and Google's alleged love of money trumps their "(love) of country." "Won't use Google, getting rid of Facebook account I didn't know I had," Cher tweeted in all capital letters.

An Afghan peace negotiations team has arrived in Abu Dhabi, an official said Tuesday, a day after talks attended by US and Taliban representatives were held in the city aimed at ending the 17-year conflict. The team, led by chief negotiator Abdul Salam Rahimi, "arrived in Abu Dhabi to begin proximity dialogue with the Taliban delegation and to prepare for a face-to-face meeting between the two sides", the Afghan presidential spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri tweeted. The 12-person team was first announced in November by President Ashraf Ghani as part of a diplomatic effort to bring the Taliban to the table for peace talks with the government in Kabul.

The Super Sonic Car was set to raise the land speed record bar with the vehicle finished and undergoing final testing, but the project was stopped in its tracks when funding ran out. Related Video: Watch the Bloodhound SSC Team Show off Car Months of administration failed to find an investor willing to supply the £25 million ($31.5 million) required to set what might be the last record of this kind. Time was called on Bloodhound and we all shed a tear over a hard-fought challenge that seemingly fell at the final hurdle.

Chili’s social media department is getting ribbed after it weighed in on North Carolina’s election fraud scandal ― without really understanding it. It all started Monday when Andrew Bates, a spokesperson for the progressive super PAC American Bridge, offered a Chili’s gift certificate to North Carolina GOP Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse with a caveat: Stop trying to seat Republican congressional candidate Mark Harris, whose election has been marred by ballot fraud allegations. Woodhouse didn’t respond, but Chili’s social media person did and aggressively attempted to do some promotion piggybacking on Bates’ tweet.

AAA predicts that more than one-third of Americans will travel this holiday season, so knowing the best and worst times for traffic and weather can cut down your trip time. According to AAA, the record-breaking 112.5 million travelers taking to the nation's runways, roads and rails for the year-end holidays represents a 4.4 percent increase over last year and the most since AAA has been tracking holiday travel. "'Tis the season for holiday travel, and more Americans than ever will journey to spend time with friends and family or choose to take a vacation," said Bryan Shilling, managing director, AAA Travel products and services.

Canada is looking for a way out of a $13 billion deal to export armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia -- a move the company warns could leave the government liable for billions. In a television interview Sunday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government was looking for a way to halt the sale of armored vehicles manufactured by a unit of U.S.-based General Dynamics Corp. We are engaged with the export permits to try and see if there is a way of no longer exporting these vehicles to Saudi Arabia,” Trudeau told CTV, without elaborating.

While President Trump has refused to condemn MBS for his alleged role in the killing, he has pointed to measures taken against those Saudi officials involved in Khashoggi’s death and dismemberment. We have already sanctioned 17 Saudis known to have been involved in the murder of Mr. Khashoggi, and the disposal of his body,” Trump said in a statement last month. The White House has also disputed the notion that Trump is ignoring the intelligence community’s conclusions, even if Trump has so far refused to directly criticize the crown prince.

Bijan Rafiekian was indicted on charges including failing to register as a foreign agent A one-time business partner of the former national security adviser Michael Flynn has been arrested and charged with illegally lobbying to have a Turkish exile returned from the US. Bijan Rafiekian, who also goes by the name Bijan Kian, made an initial appearance on Monday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. He was indicted on charges including failing to register as a foreign agent.

Russia has cut its military flights in Syria from more than 100 per day to fewer than four a week, the defence minister said Tuesday, in another sign the country's conflict is winding down. Russia launched air strikes in Syria in support of long-term ally President Bashar al-Assad in September 2015. Russian support helped Assad's forces reclaim swathes of territory once in the hands of opposition fighters and Islamic extremists.

Delta Air Lines will add nonstop service to Mexico City from its Minneapolis/St. Paul hub. Daily service will begin June 8, with Delta offering one daily round-trip flight on 132-seat Airbus A319 aircraft. Minneapolis/St. Paul will become the sixth city to get nonstop service to Mexico City on Delta.

India's federal drug regulator said on Tuesday a Reuters report that Johnson & Johnson knew for decades that cancer-causing asbestos lurked in its baby powder was "under consideration". A spokeswoman for the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) told Reuters it was too early to say if a formal investigation would be launched into the baby powder that is ubiquitous in many Indian homes, a potential market of 1.3 billion people. K. Bangarurajan, a senior official at the CDSCO, told Reuters powder samples were tested earlier but nothing wrong was found in them.

A North Carolina woman has been charged with driving while impaired after a crash with a school bus that sent 13 students to the hospital. The North Carolina Highway Patrol issued a news release saying Kimberly Ann Austin was also charged with driving left of center. A working home phone listing couldn't be found, and the district attorney's office didn't immediately respond to an email asking if Austin has an attorney.

We’ve got a recipe for raw cookie dough that uses simple ingredients and is gluten-free to boot (which helps avoid the E. coli risks associated with eating raw flour). The base of the dough starts with chickpeas and unsweetened peanut butter, adding a boost of protein and fiber. The trick to a really smooth dough is to peel that papery skin off the chickpeas.

White supremacist congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) tweeted over the weekend that the recently shuttered magazine The Weekly Standard “deserved” to shut down and was met with major pushback from magazine co-founder John Podhoretz. The 23-year-old conservative publication known for being critical of President Donald Trump released its final issue on Monday after announcing last week that it would be folding. Trump addressed the closure, referring to the publication as “pathetic and dishonest” and lambasting the editor-at-large, Bill Kristol.

When federal Judge Reed O’Connor effectively struck down the Affordable Care Act on Friday, there was a chorus of shock and dismay across the country from politicians and pundits alike. Not the least of them is Chief Justice John Roberts. Roberts saved the ACA in 2012 by defining a key provision as a tax.

Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport said Monday that it is now offering unlimited free Wi-Fi for travelers. Previously, free Wi-Fi was limited to one hour at the airport, which goes by airport code MKE. "Unlimited free Wi-Fi has been one of the most-requested passenger amenities at MKE," Chris Abele, Milwaukee County executive, said in a statement.

Guatemalan children caught in Mexico while trying to migrate into the US, queue before climbing into a minibus at Aurora international airport in Guatemala City. For years, Dora waited impatiently to turn 15, the age her mother had agreed she would be old enough to leave their home in El Salvador – where she suffered physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her grandfather – and head to the US, in search of a new life. “Seeing them leave together … that gave me hope and gave me the courage to finally leave,” said Dora, who is now living at a children’s shelter in Tijuana, on the border with California.

New Zealand warned Google to "take responsibility" for its news content Wednesday, after the internet giant broke a court order suppressing the name of a man charged with murdering a British backpacker. An Auckland court granted the man interim name suppression this month but Google revealed his identity in an email to subscribers of its "what's trending in New Zealand?" service. Justice Minister Andrew Little said the breach was unacceptable and he had made his views known to Google executives at a meeting in parliament on Tuesday night.

Clashes between Nigerian farmers and herders killed at least 3,641 people in the past three years, with more than half of the deaths occurring in 2018, Amnesty International said. The London-based human rights organization blamed the escalation in the conflict on the authorities’ failure to investigate the violence or prosecute perpetrators, according to the report on its website. The study was based on 262 interviews and 230 documents, including medical records and military reports, it said.